Summer Update

Hi all!

This summer has kept us busy with a variety of different ministries here in Mansfield, England. To give you a bit of an overview:

Selah Coffee House

We continue to run the coffee shop and have been able to build relationships with a lot of the regulars that come in. There have been many opportunities to sow seeds, as well as encourage a number of believers that frequent the shop. The shop closes for the month of August as many people are away on holiday and we participate in other outreaches during that time. We are set to open again the first week of September.

Nottingham Bible Study

Alex has continued to teach a Bible study in the neighboring city. Through much prayer, this particular study has come to an end as of the end of July. However, there are other opportunities we are praying about, along with the leadership of the church, to reach out to the large population in that city.

Church

We continue to participate in setting up and tearing down all aspects of Sunday morning service since we are still meeting in the community center building. Alex is part of the rotation for teaching the youth, and Lindsay continues to lead worship for Sundays and mid-week studies.

Guitar Lessons

Lindsay has been able to give private guitar lessons to 4 girls in the church and is gaining another student come September. She has been teaching a couple of the girls what it means to lead worship as well, and they were able to fill in for her while we were away for a couple weeks.

Creation Fest

During the first week of August, there is a free Christian festival down in the south of the country called Creation Fest. Each year, Calvary Chapel Mansfield takes a team down there to serve. We were once again able to go with the church to serve as part of the Big Shed Café team. It was a wonderful week, but a very busy one!

Portugal

After Creation Fest, we had the privilege of going to Lagoa, Portugal for two and a half weeks for a “working” holiday. The pastor of a church there needed someone to fill in for him while he and his family attended the Missions Conference in Austria. We were there for 2 Sunday morning services at which Lindsay led worship and Alex taught. It was a very refreshing time for us to get some rest from this past year, to be able to serve the church there, and to gain new vision for this upcoming year.

Personal

The day after getting back from Portugal, we moved house. We are now getting settled and gearing up to return to the coffee shop, to continue in the work the Lord has for us here, and to venture out into new areas of service and discipleship. We are very excited to see what the Lord is going to continue to do this next year.

Prayer Points

·       Growth of the coffee shop ministry and business

·       Strength and endurance as we head into the cold, dark, and dreary winter months

·       Favour as we begin the application process for Italian Citizenship (so we don’t need to worry about other work visas to stay in the UK)

·       Continued opportunities to share with non-believers as well as encourage the believers

Praise Points

·       God continues to provide for our every need and gives us many unexpected blessings along the way

·       Our wonderful (and unexpected) refreshing trip to Portugal

·       God providing another house for us to live in

·       The fruit we see in the lives of the believers we’ve been blessed to pour into

Thank you all for your prayer and support! It means more than you know.

Blessings,

Alex and Lindsay Spampinato

June 2014 Update

Hello dear friends and family,
I want to take this opportunity to give a bit of an update for all of you who have been so faithful to pray for us, every little prayer matters. The Lord is good and faithful! We have been faithfully been serving in the coffee shop and with Lindsay leading worship really we've just been doing, the same as when we first started, hence the lack of more frequent updates. We have been so blessed here just being able to be part of the fellowship and be involved in the serving and workings of the church body here. Along with the Coffee shop and leading worship, our other big role seems to be discipleship, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." Gal 6:9-10. Of course in any ministry there are struggles and challenges but it's been amazing seeing God working through those and growing our faith at the same time. We are looking forward to this summer as well since we have alot going on! One of the biggest is in August we will be doing Creation Fest which is a week long free christian music festival with workshops, skate parks, bible studies, films, activities, and so much more. At this they also have a cafe which Calvary Mansfield here heads up, this year Lindsay and i have been put "in charge" of the Cafe. Last year we found out that we were the highest grossing coffee shop in the UK for that week, needless to say the bar has been set. We are very excited for this as it's a crazy whirlwind event that is exhausting but so much fun!

So that's the brief of what's been going on nothing too riveting but just being faithful where God has us.

Prayer requests:
Direction in regards whether to continue a bible study in Nottingham
Strength and endurance to faithfully serve, esp in August
Fresh vision as to how, what, and where God wants us serving
A heart for making disciples.

Thank you all once again for your support, prayers, and love.

Love the Spamps!

Christmas culture

A few weeks ago I was asked a question by Tim Abney: What are some of the differences in customs and sights during the Christmas season here in England? So I have a small list of differences that I observed here in Mansfield:
1) Far fewer homes are decorated on the exterior 
2) They will often have both Ham and Turkey on Christmas
3) Chestnuts are actually eaten and sold in stores
4) Mulled wine, this is our equivelent to Hot apple cider, where we use apples they use grapes
5) NO EGGNOG
6) Adults past a certain age no longer have stockings
7) Christmas Pudding see link http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/traditional-christmas-pudding.html
 Christmas "baskets" are called "hampers"
9) Mince pies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mince_pie
10) Boxing Day (day after christmas)
11) Christmas Crackers a small paper package that when you pull on both ends "cracks" and has small gifts inside

This is a list of just a few that I can think of/noticed.

PLEASE BRITISH FRIENDS IF I'VE LEFT ANY OUT PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD!

MANY BLESSINGS THE SPAMPS!

Merry Christmas

With Christmas only a couple days away, it's a wonderful time for us to reflect on the gifts the Lord has given us. One prevalent gift being our opportunity to serve the Lord here in England. We can't believe that we have reached December already: our 6-month mark. These past months have been full of challenges, frustrations, and warfare, but also many, many blessings. We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas this year with our church here, and we wanted to take a moment to wish you all a Merry Christmas as well! We cannot being to thank you enough for all of your support and your prayers. We truly cannot be sustained any other way than through the Lord's strength. So whether this season brings you much joy or reminds you of much sadness, we pray that the Lord will meet you and remind you of His great love for you as we focus on the reason for this season, the birth of Jesus, the greatest gift of all. Merry Christmas!

PRAYER REQUEST

We have a prayer request that we want to share with you. Last week Lindsay and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary in York. While we were there one of the teachers asked if we would be interested in coming up and teaching the biblical missions class. So this Wednesday Lindsay and I have the privilege of teaching the class. So your prayers for clarity and the ability just to really reach and connect with the students. Thank you all for all of your prayers, and we will update you all when we get back!

Four months

Hi everyone! I am so sorry it's been so long since I've posted on here. Hopefully this will give you a glimpse of what we've been up to these past few months. Thanks for checking in!

August Video Update